Year 8 - English
Third person omniscient writing: 'The Execution of Lady Jane Grey' as stimulus
Myths, legends and stories that inspire
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils read and explore a range of text types in connection to classical myths and legends. They first look at poetry before doing some descriptive writing inspired by poetry and paintings. They then explore Chaucer and modern retellings of myths to inspire their narrative writing.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to plan a well-structured piece of descriptive writing inspired by a painting ('The Execution of Lady Jane Grey') which employs a third person omniscient narrator.
Key Notes
- A third person omniscient narrator can move between the thoughts, feelings and experiences of all characters.
- Paragraphs can allow us to signal shifts in focus to a different character.
- To structure your piece, your first and final paragraph could focus on the same character.
- To further structure your piece, you could link the concluding sentence of paragraphs to the next topic sentence.
Vocabulary To Learn
- third person limited: the narrator isn't a character in the story and presents the feelings and experiences of one character using pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they', 'it'
- third person omniscient: the narrator isn't a character in the story and presents the feelings and experiences of multiple characters using pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they', 'it'
- sumptuous: expensive looking, luxurious, rich
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- A third person omniscient narrator must develop each character in the same amount of detail.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
A third person omniscient narrator can move between the thoughts, feelings and experiences of all characters. Paragraphs can allow us to signal shifts in focus to a different character.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'third person limited'
the narrator isn't a character in the story and presents the feelings and experiences of one character using pronouns like 'she', 'he', 'they', 'it'.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: A third person omniscient narrator must develop each character in the same amount of detail. Correction: Whilst a third person omniscient narrator can develop many characters, they don't need the same amount of space, detail and time in a written piece. You can still have a central character, and minor characters who are more or less important.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott': understanding the ballad Study Guide
- Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus: how the myth inspired the painting Study Guide
- Comparative paragraphs: 'The Silence of the Girls' and 'The Song of Achilles' Study Guide
- Comparing poems: 'Brueghel's Winter' and 'The Hunters in the Snow' Study Guide
- Creating convincing characters using 'The Canterbury Tales' as stimulus Study Guide
- Descriptive writing using Lord Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott' as stimulus Study Guide
- Effective sensory language using 'The Execution of Lady Jane Grey' as stimulus Study Guide
- Exploring enjambment in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott' Study Guide
- Exploring the theme of power in Hanan Al-Shaykh's 'One Thousand and One Nights' Study Guide
- Exploring W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts' Study Guide
- Exploring Walter de la Mare's poem 'Brueghel's Winter' Study Guide
- Exploring William Carlos Williams's poem 'Landscape with the fall of Icarus' Study Guide
- Exploring William Carlos Williams's poem 'The Hunters in the Snow' Study Guide
- Geoffrey Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales': compelling characterisation Study Guide
- Hanan Al-Shaykh's 'The Fisherman and the Jinni': understanding the story Study Guide
- Improving and proofreading a piece of narrative writing Study Guide
- Madeline Miller's 'The Song of Achilles': understanding the extract Study Guide
- Natasha Bowen's 'Skin of the Sea': understanding the extract Study Guide
- Pat Barker's 'The Silence of the Girls': understanding the extract Study Guide
- Planning a narrative using the five part narrative structure Study Guide
- Reviewing and refining descriptive writing: alliteration, plosives and sibilance Study Guide
- Symbolism in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shalott' Study Guide
- The five part narrative structure Study Guide
- Use of flashback in Natasha Bowen's 'Skin of the Sea' Study Guide
- Writing a full descriptive piece: 'The Execution of Lady Jane Grey' as stimulus Study Guide
- Writing a full narrative piece using the five part narrative structure Study Guide
- Writing inspired by 'Skin of the Sea': varying sentence types to create rhythm Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 8 English guide library.